This year at the Virginia Highlands Festival, the Writers & Readers Days committee has expanded the event from one day to two. This increase in programming allows exploration of all types of writing. Paper is not the only delivery mode of our stories. Spoken word, dramatic performance, music and lyrics, and published books are on the agenda.
Friday, July 28, several three-hour workshops delve into the options available to communicate our stories and truths. Mary Munsey presents the basics of songwriting; Rick Rose examines the tenets of playwriting; Dr. Hannah Harvey explores intergenerational storytelling; Jo Allison clarifies how to incorporate the most accurate and descriptive historical facts in our work. For poetry, Felicia Mitchell shows how to create emotion with details.
Saturday, July 29, has 10 sessions on topics of fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature, young adult fiction, poetry, book clubs and a publishing panel. Featured presenters include George Ella Lyon, Rick Van Noy, Karen Spears Zacharias, Bekah Harris, Janie Hull and Sally Jones.
George Ella Lyon
Former Kentucky Poet Laureate George Ella Lyon leads two sessions: “The Practice of Poetry” and “Mapping Your Memory House.”
In “The Practice of Poetry” session, Lyon looks at the tools of a poet and the practices that bring a poem to life. During the session, Lyon and participants use prompts to draft a poem that mines personal experiences and reveals a poet’s voice.
Lyon’s “Mapping Your Memory House” session digs out inspiration and subjects for poetry. “This workshop will give you the key to a wealth of emotionally rich material,” Lyon explains. “A key to all the places you’ve lived and a process for unlocking the treasure there.” Her exercises include drawing, so participants can create a visual representation of the process.
Lyon’s poem, “Where I’m From,” has become a worldwide writing prompt. “Back to the Light,” her eighth collection of poetry, was published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2021 and was a runner-up for the Weatherford Prize. Lyon’s work of multiple genres has earned the Appalachian Book of the Year award, the Aesop Prize, American Library Association’s Schneider Family Book Award, the Jane Addams Honor Book, the Golden Kite Award, the New York Public Library’s Best Book for Teens list and the Parents’ Choice Silver Medal. She is an Al Smith Fellowship recipient and a recent inductee into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.
Felicia Mitchell
Poet Felicia Mitchell recently retired as professor emeritus of English at Emory & Henry College. She is the author of “A Mother Speaks, A Daughter Listens: Journeying Together Through Dementia” and “Waltzing with Horses.” Mitchell’s poems have been published in a wide variety of journals and are included in anthologies such as “Mountains Piled Upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene” and “Storms of the Inland Sea: Poems of Dementia and Dementia Caregiving.”
Her three-hour workshop, “Creating Poetry from a Symbolic Memory Jug,” includes a brainstorming activity inspired by the African American tradition of the memory jug. Workshop participants explore how poets share emotions about family stories through attention to specific details rather than by stating feelings outright.
Mitchell explains the concept, “With the help of a mental collage based on a family story from recent history or the past, you will be guided through the composition of a poem in a workshop that models the creative process, inspires you with individualized and group work and engages you to feel more confident about your craft.” Participants should arrive ready to write with pen and paper. “You’ll leave with a poem,” she adds.?Mitchell notes that the workshop defines family broadly, including chosen family or animal family members.?
Writers & Readers Days – July 28 and 29
Writers & Readers Days at the Virginia Highlands Festival are Friday, July 28, and Saturday, July 29, at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon, Virginia.
Advanced ticket sales begin in May online at www.VaHighlandsFestival.org/writers-and-readers-day. A single day ticket is $40 and a two-day ticket is $70. On-site registration is available on both days. Students with a school ID qualify for free admission.
More information is available at www.VaHighlandsFestival.org.
